— Put down your hammer and nails because 4D printing may render these tools useless in the future. Skylar Tibbits, a speaker on 4D printing technology, is experimenting with materials that put themselves together. Instead of drills and saws, these new structures rely on exposure to heat, sound, and movement to transform. "Maybe [in] the construction sites of the future," Tibbits imagines

— Imagine bringing home a flat-packed coffee table, opening the box, and watching it assemble itself. Science speaker Skylar Tibbits is working toward making that process a reality. While his peers are busy with 3-D printing, Tibbits and his team at the MIT Self-Assembly lab are adding a 4th dimension to the fabrication process. Contained in this extra dimension is programmable material...

— Design speakerNeri Oxman predicts that all of us will have a 3D printer at our desks within the next decade. While these printers are already available—and have been hugely popular among early adopters—they have yet to make it into the mainstream. As Oxman tells

— "3D printing is a strange meme that is being misrepresented in the press by people who don't actually use it," science speaker Neil Gershenfeld tells BBC News. In the article, Gershenfeld (Director of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms) argues that despite being a beneficial technology, 3D printing won't be spurring a manufacturing revolution all by itself....

— "Microwave ovens are convenient for some things, but they still haven’t replaced the rest of the kitchen," science speakerNeil Gershenfeld says in a recent interview. While 3D printing is certainly a breakthrough technology—it isn't necessarily the beginning of a...